Samantha Bee Laments How the Media Blew Up Her Obscene Insult of Ivanka

TBS Full Frontal host and comedian Samantha Bee has been feeling the heat since her crass May 30 declaration that Ivanka Trump was a “feckless c**t” who should seduce her father to change immigration policy. But during what started out on Wednesday night sounding like a sincere apology, Bee appeared to shift the blame for the firestorm onto the media. And the host suggested they preferred to focus on her insult instead of the message she was trying to convey about immigration.

“Hi, I'm Samantha Bee. You know, a lot of people were offended and angry that I used an epithet to describe the President's daughter and advisor last week,” she began the cold open. “It is the word I have used on the show many times, hoping to reclaim it. This time I used it as an insult. I crossed a line, I regret it, and I do apologize for that.”

She talked about how she wanted to “reclaim” the “c-word” but acknowledged that her use of it brought many women back to terrible times in their lives. “A lot of women don't want that word reclaimed, they want it gone and I don't blame them. I don’t want to inflict more pain on them,” she sympathized.

This is where the seemingly sincere apology arguably started to take a turn.

“I want this show to be challenging and I want it to be honest, but I never intended it to hurt anyone, except Ted Cruz. Many men were also offended by my use of the word. I do not care about that,” she chided.

Bee then turned to the media’s coverage of what she had said and decried how her words fueled the news cycle:

I hate that this distracted from more important issues. I hate that I did something to contribute to the nightmare of 24-hour news cycles that were all white-knuckling through. I should have known that a potty-mouthed insult would be inherently more interesting to them than juvenile immigration policies. I would do anything to help those kids. I hate that this distracted from them. So to them, I am also sorry.

“And look, if you are worried about the death of civility, don't sweat it. I'm a comedian. People who hone their voices in basement bars while yelling back at drunk hecklers are definitely not paragons of civility,” she continued. “I am, I'm really sorry that I said that word but you know what, civility is just nice words. Maybe we should all worry a little bit more about the niceness of our actions.”

Following her apology and the show’s opening credits, Bee appeared to mock those who had a problem with what she said by introducing a panel of men who would hit buttons to censor her.

“Welcome to Full Frontal. I'm Samantha Bee. Sorry for breaking America,” she said in a sarcastic tone. “Listen, I wanted to introduce you to some exciting new additions to our show. These are our new mandatory censors who will be with us from now on.”

Following her obscene comment last week, two of her advertisers (State Farm and Autotrader) announced they were pulling out of the show. But judging from the difference in the number of advertisements present this week, the show had been essentially gutted. The week she used the “c-word” Full Frontal had 19 advertisements yet this week saw a total of six for the entire show (not counting promos for shows on Turner-owned networks).

SAMANTHA BEE: Hi, I'm Samantha Bee. You know, a lot of people were offended and angry that I used an epithet to describe the President's daughter and advisor last week. It is the word I have used on the show many times, hoping to reclaim it. This time I used it as an insult. I crossed a line, I regret it, and I do apologize for that.

The problem is that many women have heard that word at the worst moments of their lives. A lot of women don't want that word reclaimed, they want it gone and I don't blame them. I don’t want to inflict more pain on them. I want this show to be challenging and I want it to be honest, but I never intended it to hurt anyone, except Ted Cruz. Many men were also offended by my use of the word. I do not care about that.

I -- I hate that this distracted from more important issues. I hate that I did something to contribute to the nightmare of 24-hour news cycles that were all white-knuckling through. I should have known that a potty-mouthed insult would be inherently more interesting to them than juvenile immigration policies. I would do anything to help those kids. I hate that this distracted from them. So to them, I am also sorry.

And look, if you are worried about the death of civility, don't sweat it. I'm a comedian. People who hone their voices in basement bars while yelling back at drunk hecklers are definitely not paragons of civility. I am, I'm really sorry that I said that word but you know what, civility is just nice words. Maybe we should all worry a little bit more about the niceness of our actions. Ok, thanks for listening.

(…)

BEE: Welcome to Full Frontal. I'm Samantha Bee. Sorry for breaking America? Listen, I wanted to introduce you to some exciting new additions to our show. These are our new mandatory censors who will be with us from now on. Don’t be jittery guys. I talk fast but you'll be fine. They actually used to censor old movies on cable.

(...)

BEE: That’s right, they’re the best [Montana farming] censors in the entire business. Unfortunately, this is what we have to do from now on. I know. I know. It’s some pretty [fun loving stuff] but thankfully I don't think we'll be having this controversy ever again. So, [escargot].

What? I’m not swearing. I’m just trying to say [kids go slow]. Ok, we’re working out the kinks. Moving on.

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